The Strife Trilogy 1: SOLDIER
by BenignViewer
Summary: "Five thousand then, and I'll babysit your spiky ass the entire way!" "Five thousand, and you let me do things my way." "Your way! You better stick to the plan-" "Fine." He cut Barret off again. The man was irritable and an amateur; two things Cloud had no patience for... "Fine!" Barret growled at length, needing to have the last word. "Welcome to ****ing Avalanche. Asshole."
1. I: Prelude

_Foreword: about the Strife trilogy._

First of all, why "the Strife Trilogy"? My choice of title was inspired by other reputable fantasy titles, and I wanted something more appropriate for a novelisation than 'Final Fantasy VII'. With that in mind the implicit meaning of the titles for each 'book' should be obvious.  
As the story goes, this is not just another Final Fantasy VII novelisation, it will be AU at points, and what isn't is still open to my interpretation of the game (as I played it). Despite this I will try to stay as faithful to canon of the original game as I can, if not entirely in plot then in character and substance of the FFVII World. However, I am quite ignorant of the details of Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, Advent Children, and Kingdom Hearts (if that can even be included in FFVII canon) so if I ignore facts from those sequels/prequels, please don't get on my case about it. I may also manipulate certain aspects of the original game based on my chosen understanding. Again, I will not take any interest in anyone pointing this out to me over the course of the story - I know I'm doing it. If you want to discuss my interpretation of events or dialogue from the game feel free to PM me.  
As I will be approaching this story in 'book style' there won't be any regurgitation of FFVII gameplay - fights and the like are going to be entirely different, (and far less common, ergo nothing like the system for random battles from the game) and some of the more pointless bosses, plot-wise, won't feature.  
On relationships; I have not decided on any one pairing for this tale, I aim to treat all the characters as human (or not, where the case may be) and let their interactions with each other guide me, not the other way around.  
Anything else? Oh, right: All characters, quotes and the Final Fantasy VII universe are the intellectual property of Square soft. I own nothing, and make no profit from this. The original story, however, is mine and no one (sans FanFiction{dot}Net) has the right to redistribute it without my permission, and I reserve the right, along with Square Soft. and FanFiction{dot}Net to remove it at any time. I will only state this once, refer here for Disclaimer for future chapters.  
So, all that said, if I haven't turned you away by now, let's get this show on the road!

~_BenignViewer_

* * *

_**The Strife Trilogy**_

**Book 1: S.O.L.D.I.E.R.**

Prelude:

A carrion hawk screeched over the barren and lifeless plain. The low despairing cry joined with others as more and more of the creatures gathered at the site below. The most brazen of the birds swooped down and pecked one of the prone figures on the ground, only to retake to the air when he moved.

He stirred blearily at the sudden jab in his flank, pain dulled eyes struggling to make sense of the scene around him. Climbing to his knees, he was most pressingly aware of the onset of night and the chill air coaxing his body back to the ground.

_No._

He would not stop, he could not slow down or they'd catch them…

_Not back there…_

But he couldn't move fast with the cold slowing his body. At last registering the bodies around him, he suppressed any emotion at the grizzly necessity of stripping them. A deep indigo uniform seemed familiar to him, and proved to be in better condition than his own ripped clothing, long since unrecognizable. Pulling the fatigues and vest, with accompanying shoulder guard, over his own clothes, he cast his gaze around for a weapon next.

A massive thick sword, looking bizarrely like five-foot elongated butcher's knife caught his attention and stirred some sense of familiarity in his hand and mind.

'_Buster' blade? You fancy yourself as some kind of swashbuckling butcher?_

…_Something like that._

The voices filled his ears for a moment, an indistinct picture of another time and place swum in front of his eyes. Then;

_Live… Live _my_ life._

The memory throbbed in his head, physical pain reflecting his confusion… he didn't know which voice was his. As his vision returned to the rocky, body-strewn plain around him, he looked down to the dark haired man before him, and shed a single solitary tear in sorrow incomprehensible to his delirious state of mind.

He felt like he should do something here, say something maybe, it felt wrong to just leave his body to the patiently circling scavengers above. He got to his feet but could neither summon the energy to dig a grave nor any appropriate words to speak. He wasn't even sure he knew him. Everything was confused.

Finally he decided he was wasting too much time contemplating two impossible courses of action, and instead dragged the man with a spiky black hair and a hauntingly familiar face to a rocky outcrop a few paces away. There he covered the body with all the stones he could lift, making a humble mound that was indistinguishable from its surrounds.

His conscience appeased he turned away, looking at the large glowing city beyond the plain and bluff on which he stood. It could only be his destination. Coldly, he ignored the other numerous bodies, feeling nothing but a greater determination to get away at the sight of the masked faces, negotiating his way across the plain and bluff to the city in the distance.

_Midgar…_

…_You ever been to the city before?_

_No._

_Well, it's different, alright…  
_

___…_


	2. II:

_**The Strife Trilogy**_

**Book 1: S.O.L.D.I.E.R.**

~ II:

He didn't honestly remember much about his arrival in Midgar. Between blood loss, the freezing night and his own paranoia, he figured it was a miracle that he got there at all. Although perhaps he shouldn't be so surprised, weren't members of S.O.L.D.I.E.R. supposed to be tough?

He fiddled with the fastenings of his sword to his back anxiously, observing the thinning crowds of the city's slums for any sign of pursuit. He stumbled through the thinning body of people to a train station which identified itself with 'Sector 7' painted in bold, if fading letters. With most people dispersing from the last unloading train, he slipped into the station's depot. There, he found a not in service carriage, into which he shut himself for - some small measure of security, and finally allowed himself to collapse in exhaustion.

~s~

"Hey!"

_Hey, how are you doing?_

"Hey you! What do you think you are doing!"

_Hey it's you! You're still sane, right?_

"Out, you homeless trash!"

_My family! My hometown! How could you do this to them!_

Voices intruded on his confused dreams, he was unsure where the nightmare began and his memories ended. He must have been thrashing, because finally his sleep was interrupted by a feeling of unsteady movement. Before he was fully aware of where he was, he was struggling against a restricting hold. His only achievement was a short drop and a hard landing on what felt like… steps?

Finally seeing what was around him he found himself lying outside the sector seven train station, two big, angry - if somewhat satisfied looking, guards standing over him. Searching his memory for how he could have ended up in this position, he only vaguely recalled falling asleep in a train carriage the night before. Everything else was just vague impressions and sensations, in an injury and fear-induced delirium.

Shaking his head to clear the cloying thoughts, he took stock of his present situation, noting that, other than his new bruises, his body had recovered almost impossibly quickly from his wounds. But why was that surprising? Wasn't it an ability of all members of S.O.L.D.I.E.R.?

He shook his head again, getting nowhere with that line of thought. The guards were still watching him, although far less satisfied than before, clutching at their nightsticks in obvious intent to subdue him. Feeling the presence of the sword at his back, he wasn't all that surprised by the guards' reaction, although he had to suppress his own smirk at the thought that they were unable to remove it. No point in provoking them.

The tense situation was, fortunately, dispelled with the arrival of a young, dark-haired, woman. He studied her closely, finding something familiar in her features.

"Cloud?" She questioned.

_Cloud…_

And suddenly things clicked into place for him – Cloud, he remembered he was now.

Nibelheim.

Tifa.

Sephiroth…

"Tifa?" He managed to reply, hoping his hesitation and inner turmoil wasn't plain for all to see.

"You know this man?" The closest, and older of the two guards, asked. The younger was staring slightly slack-jawed at the obviously attractive young woman, whose choice of clothing left little to the imagination. Having regained his cool composure, Cloud couldn't resist smirking at the guard this time.

"Yes. He's… A friend."

"Right, well, we'll let him go with a warning. If we catch him squatting around here again…"

"Of course, sorry, he was probably just... lost, trying to find my bar." Tifa assured the old guard.

Cloud gave her a curious look, but she ignored it instead offering him a hand to his feet. Cloud gracefully stood up on his own, giving a small nod in what he hoped was thanks for the gesture, despite tacitly avoiding her hand for some small measure of dignity.

With the guards returning to patrolling the station, she led him away against the morning crowds approaching the station. Once they had a modicum of privacy, she asked a rapid slew of questions; "Cloud, what are you doing here? Where have you been? Did you… Is that a S.O.L.D.I.E.R. uniform?"

_...when we get away, what do you want to do?_

_I… don't know._

_I reckon I'll go mercenary, who wouldn't want to hire an ex-S.O.L.D.I.E.R.…_

"I quit S.O.L.D.I.E.R. I'm a mercenary now" He informed her; remembering the decision _he'd_ made.

"Really? So you actually made it?" She asked, "Into S.O.L.D.I.E.R., I mean."

"Yes, but after Nibelheim…"

Tifa went silent at that. Cloud made no move to further the conversation. Eventually they wound through the unpaved streets to a slightly cleaner area of the slums, beneath the middle of the sector seven plate of the city above.

Tifa must have caught his gaze, for she spoke; "Eerie isn't it? A city on a plate."

Cloud just shrugged his shoulders. "You said you have a bar here?"

"Yeah." She seemed to brighten up at his question. "It's just over there, we're nearly there."

Cloud saw the building she was pointing at, a slightly more respectable ramshackle building than those surrounding it, with a large sign proclaiming it the 'Seventh Heaven'.  
"Seventh Heaven. Nice touch" he commented.

She beamed at him.

Privately, however, he thought that her revealing apparel, that had so flustered the guard at the station, was probably the nicest touch for any of the bar's patrons.

"So do you need a place to stay?" She asked, something indecipherable in her tone.

"…Yeah, at least until I find a job somewhere, for someone in… my line of work."

"I might be able to help… I know some people, Avalanche, who're looking for some… help, to take …things to the Shinra."

Home-grown terrorists, Cloud read between the lines. Well… "If he can pay, I have no love for the Shinra."

Tifa beamed again, and Cloud wondered just what was behind that smile. She knew more about this 'Avalanche' organisation than what she was saying, he could tell that much. They entered the bar, which, although he kept his face carefully blank, he was surprised to find occupied by four people.

"Well, Tifa? Can your friend look after Marlene?" A large, dark-skinned man, with an equally large metal socket grafted onto his right arm – where his hand should've been, spoke.

"No, uh, she's moved out of the sector-"

"Dammit, Tif', you know we need five for the plan, and it has to be tonight!"

"I know – I'll watch Marlene, I've found help."

"Hired help." Cloud interjected, speaking for the first time. He noticed the other three members of what must be Avalanche were watching the conversation eagerly. Home-grown and home-schooled he thought disparagingly. Amateurs.

"Who the hell are you?" The big man turned on him.

Cloud just stared him down, meeting his gaze levelly, not intimidated in the slightest – in spite of what was obviously the man's best attempt.

"Barret," Tifa said, grabbing hold of his arm, "This is Cloud. A friend. He's from Nibelheim, same as me. He used to be in S.O.L.D.I.E.R."

"A S.O.L.D.I.E.R! You brought the damn Shinra here!" Barret yelled at Tifa.

"Ex-S.O.L.D.I.E.R. First class." Cloud corrected "And I guarantee you will bring the Shinra down here if you keep shouting like that. They've got half the city on their payroll – and the rest want to be."

"The hell you know!" Barret sneered at him.

Cloud didn't bother responding to that. He just smirked cockily at Barret.

"Gaia, damn you!" Barret growled. "Fine Tifa, I'll take him, but only coz I wouldn't trust his spiky ass with Marlene, and we need five of us for the plan to work… Damn he better not slow us down once we get into the reactor."

"Why do you want to destroy a reactor – that is your plan right? Do you fancy yourselves as some kind of eco-terrorists?" Cloud filled his voice with sarcasm, so much so that he raised an eyebrow when Barret missed it entirely.

"We ain't no terrorists, we're Avalanche, and we're tryin' to save the planet – the Shinra are killing it, draining all the Mako to power the city above, polluting the air and makin' the land below barren. Nothin' will grow in Midgar-" Barret said, passion replacing his temper like someone had thrown a switch.

"Spare me the dogma." Cloud cut him off. Barret's face darkened once again with anger, but Cloud couldn't care less. Hired by eco-terrorists, of all the things, he thought. "Now that you've decided you need me, let's talk about what you're paying me, and what for."

"A thousand gil, mercenary-boy. Take it or leave it." Barret stated.

"Alright, if you want me to go with you as far as the train station." He deadpanned back.

"Wha- the hell you will! I'm paying you to blow the reactor, nothing less!"

"Cloud…" Tifa interjected at the same time.

"Billions of gil worth of damage, and putting myself back on Shinra's radar, for only a thousand gil? Get real." He reasoned.

"Five thousand then, and I'll babysit you the entire way!"

"Five thousand and you let me do things my way."

"Your way! You better stick to the plan-"

"Fine." He cut Barret off again, wanting to avoid being ranted at for another hour. The man was irritable and an amateur; two things Cloud had no patience for. More importantly to him, with five thousand gil, although it wasn't much, he could get a shanty house somewhere around the slums, or even a small flat as far away as Kalm. Somewhere of his own, something he couldn't remember having…

"Fine!" Barret growled at length, needing to have the last word. "Welcome to ****ing Avalanche. Asshole."

~s~


End file.
